Subject Area
Sociology
Description
Adolescence is a great opportunity for researchers to examine emotion regulation because of the physical, psychological, and social transformations that occur during this developmental stage. Adolescents that lack emotion regulation capabilities are more prone to expressions of anger, which commonly yield further symptoms of aggression, depression, and drug use. Factors contributing to low levels of emotion regulation during adolescence include stress, influence of childhood, parental influence, and maltreatment. A pre and post test were used to examine the effects of anger in a seven week creative therapy group for ten 9th grade students in a small, public high school in Rhode Island. Findings proved group work to be helpful in improving peer relationships and decreasing the frequency of interruptions and disagreements while in the classroom. Findings also proved creative therapy was found effective among students as a stress reliever. From these results, adolescents are more likely to seek out help during times when they feel upset through their development of a better understanding of emotion regulation and recognition. Professionals can utilize this information to advocate for the allocation of education funding towards programs of this nature in schools. This study also encourages further research on the long-term impacts of creative therapy for adolescents.
Publisher
Providence College
Date
Spring 5-1-2009
Type
Thesis
Format
Text
Language
English
Comments
A project based on independent investigation, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Social Work. Originally written for the Theory Practice Seminar, Providence College, 2009.